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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Boy killed by falling tree in Olympic National Forest

From Wire Reports

LILLIWAUP, Wash. – A Mason County sheriff’s spokesman said a 12-year-old boy was struck and killed by a falling tree while hiking in the Olympic National Forest on Saturday.

Detective William Adam said the boy was hiking with his father on the popular Lower Lena Lake trail in a remote forested area about 40 miles north of Shelton.

The boy’s father called 911 Saturday morning to report that his son suffered a major head injury.

Responders from three counties worked to get up the mountain to reach the boy.

Mother turns herself in after baby’s death

SANTA ROSA, Calif. – A Sonoma County woman has turned herself in for what she said was her involvement in the 2012 death of her baby daughter in Montana.

Amanda Gilbert, 23, went to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department on Friday and told investigators of her role in the 3-month-old baby’s death, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported.

Officials said the woman was booked into jail on a no-bail warrant. Sonoma County sheriff’s officials contacted Montana authorities, who issued a holding order for Gilbert on suspicion of murder.

Police officials in Billings said an autopsy revealed the child’s injuries were consistent with “some sort of foul play,” but the cause of death was inconclusive. The mother and father were suspects in the case.

Woman gets jail time for keeping dangerous dogs

LONGVIEW, Wash. – A Kelso woman accused of hiding dangerous dogs from officials has been sentenced to four days in jail for failing to register her dogs and other violations.

The Daily News of Longview reported 45-year-old Ingrid Sacha was convicted Thursday in Cowlitz County District Court. She’ll begin serving her sentence Monday.

Sacha is accused of hiding four German shepherds that were declared dangerous by the Cowlitz County Humane Society. The dogs have not been found. Court records showed they bit at least eight people.

She was also fined $243.

New judge sought in death-penalty cases

SEATTLE – King County prosecutors are seeking a new trial judge in the death-penalty cases against two people accused of killing a family of six in Carnation in 2007.

The prosecutor’s office on Friday took the unusual step of asking the state Supreme Court to remove King County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell from the cases against Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe.

Ramsdell declined to comment to the Seattle Times on Friday.

In their court filing, prosecutors cite the judge’s “troubling” rulings in the cases. The higher court has reversed the judge’s rulings twice.

Anderson and McEnroe have pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated first-degree murder in the slaughter of Anderson’s family – her parents, brother, sister-in-law, and her young niece and nephew.